In what may be proclaimed as one of the most iconic deals in the history of blockchain technology industry and the F&B sector, IBM has forged a highly strategic partnership with not one, not two, but ten highly renowned, affluent food behemoths. The historic collaboration is apparently aimed at exploring the possible applications of blockchain technology in the food chains of these F&B giants.

If reports are to be believed, ten mammoth food companies including Nestlé, SA, Walmart, McCormick and Company, Unilever, Kroger, Dole Food Company, Inc., Tyson foods, Golden State Foods, Driscoll's Inc., and the McLane Company have entrenched their commitment to form a consortium that will sign an agreement with IBM, one of the biggest technology titans that exist. Apparently, the consortium will be working with IBM’s blockchain technology that will enable the companies to share data and conduct trials with IBM.

For the uninitiated, Blockchain, which initially evolved as a system derived for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, is a shared data record that is maintained by a highly efficient computer network. The intricacies of the supply chain in the food & beverage sector would make for a highly admissible realm for the deployment of blockchain technology, given the complexities that are liable to occur in the F&B sector with regards to the traceability and transparency factor. Since blockchain can very efficiently trace the innumerable domains that are involved in the food production and distribution business, it has been predicted that its deployment may make it convenient to detect the source of contamination while food safety trials.

Similar to many of its peers, IBM has been trying to establish a foothold in global blockchain technology market, on the grounds of which the company has been working on myriad blockchain projects since the last few months. The firm’s current blockchain platform supports the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Composer and Hyperledger Fabric technologies to build blockchain-based applications, which is likely to offer exactly the kind of support that is essential for the F&B industry biggies to phase out the distribution chain complexities and promote food safety.

Walmart, one of the prime players in retail and wholesale market, had mentioned that a mock trial of the blockchain had helped the company to reduce the time required to track down the movement of mangoes from seven days to a mere 2.2 seconds. At the onset of this year, a study by IBM had also declared that more than 33% of global enterprises have been looking forward to implement the blockchain technology in their businesses.

Opponents of the blockchain technology have given the high sign that the industry is still in the nascent stages of development, and it may take years before the companies bear the fruit of their investments. However, the participating entities are confident of their commitment, as per what the sources report. With food safety becoming a rather critical issue across the globe, these food giants intend to be well-equipped for combating the problem with gusto, by sharing data with IBM’s blockchain system.

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Saipriya Iyer

Saipriya Iyer currently works as a content developer for AlgosOnline. A computer engineer by profession, she ventured into the field of writing for the love of playing with words. Having had a previous experience of 3 years under her belt, she has dabbled with website...

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